7 of 12   Carlos Mérida Los tres reyes(The Three Kings) is a fine example of Mérida’s fusion of cubist-inspired style with American sources. Amatl paper, used for popular paintings throughout central and southern Mexico, provides a lively textural support for flat planes of color. Los tres reyes, 1965. Carlos Mérida (Guatemalan). Acrylic on bark/leaf paper: 28" x 39". Gift of Mrs. George Brown.
	CARLOS MERIDA, 1891-1984 s a young man, Carlos Mérida studied painting at the Institute of Arts and Crafts in Guatemala City and worked with a group of avant-garde painters. He traveled in Europe from 1910 to 1914, and there he became acquainted with modernist painters like Paul Klee and Joan Miró. Upon his return to Guatemala, he began to include Mayan motifs in his work and started a pro-Indian movement in art. In 1919 Mérida moved to Mexico, where he found greater support for his indigenous and folkloric interests. He was a technical assistant on Diego Rivera’s first mural at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City (1922-23) and was later commissioned to do murals himself. His interest in abstract art, however, caused him to drift away from the social realist muralists. A highly accomplished technician and designer, Mérida also illustrated books on Mayan myth and folklore and designed theater sets and furniture. A firm proponent of “the integration of the arts,” Merida allied painting, sculpture, and architecture in his work on the Benito Juárez Housing Project in Mexico City (1952). He created a glass mosaic mural, The Confluence of Civilizations, for HemisFair 1968 at the Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. Mérida’s unique style is both subtle and sophisticated. His free-floating, dancing shapes suggest ancient Indian as well as contemporary influences and interests.